Abstract

SALAZAR VALLEJO, Sergio I; GONZALEZ, Norma Emilia  and  SCHWINDT, Evangelina. MARINE INVERTEBRATE TAXONOMY: NEEDS IN LATIN AMERICA. INCI [online]. 2008, vol.33, n.7, pp.518-522. ISSN 0378-1844.

Taxonomy is a fundamental discipline of biology and it is indispensable for the identification of species, either indicator ones or exotic, and for monitoring activities. To achieve its potential, this discipline requires the establishment of natural history collections and herbaria that document local and regional biodiversity. Because of the high levels of global biodiversity, taxonomy deserves the same attention as the climate change programs. Several international meetings, since the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1992, have pointed out the need to imcrease government support for taxonomy. One of the main conclusions was to establish a Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI) in 1998. Governments failed to establish national programs for taxonomy; thus in 2006 the Conference of the Parties stressed again the urgency of their implementation. This review lists the problems faced and main progress achieved by the GTI and proposes a road map for Latin America with an emphasis on marine invertebrates. It is recommended that taxonomists and collection managers team together, improve their relationships with policy makers and funding science agencies, and prepare national initiatives. These initiatives should include a stepwise hiring program in order to improve and diversify the knowledge of the marine biota. At the same time, taxonomic research should involve state of the art bioinformatics and molecular tools, and become a global science.

Keywords : Biodiversidad ; Colecciones ; Invertebrados Marinos ; Latinoamérica ; Taxonomía .